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I have a client with fairly large system spread out over 2 structures. There is a mixture of wired/wireless Sonos devices throughout both structures, all on the same network. I have a managed network and it all works perfectly. He is now adding a pavilion 400-500ft away and wants Sonos available there. I am beaming WiFi to the pavilion from the nearest structure. My question is, will a Sonos Five or Sonos Move connect to the network via WiFi and function properly within the app? It will not be able to communicate via Sonos Mesh with the other players/speakers as it will be too far away, and there will be no wired option available. I tried this in the past at a very large home and couldn’t get it to work and ending up wiring it there.

thanks for reading

Sonos Move would be a better choice for that location.  Besides being built for outdoor use (but not live there permanently) it actually only connects via WiFi.  If the WiFi in the home and pavilion are the same SSID, then it should work just fine.

The Five might be a problem.  Although it can work via WIFi or sonos mesh network, I don’t think you can have some speakers on WiFi and some via mesh….accept in the case of Move and Roam that only work via WiFi.  Making the Five work might require you to rethink the entire Sonos setup.

 

All that said, I would want to ask the client if it’s really important for the pavilion and home to be on the same network, since you likely would not need speakers to play in sync for the home and pavilion.  It might make more sense to setup a different SSID in the pavilion, and phones/tablets can switch to that network automatically when in range.  The 2 sonos system would connect there and operate completely separate from the house Sonos.

Also, without knowing what this pavilion looks like, it might make more sense to use outdoor speakers connected to a Sonos amp.  You can get an enclosure for the amp to protect it from the elements. 

Thanks for the reply! He absolutely wants it all on the same network and doesn’t want to worry the app reconnecting as he travels back and forth, which I get it. So my initial plan was to just put in a network bridge and wire an Amp and a couple speakers. However he informed me there will be no dry storage. With the humidity and climate here, that won’t work for the Amp. So it has to be the Move it appears. I can mount it up high so it’s not directly in the weather, that wasn’t my concern. I just was wondering about it’s ability to connect to the existing wired system via WiFi only and function properly within the Sonos app with the rest of his products. 

So long as the WiFi shares the same subnet as the wired system -- with multicast permitted between the segments -- the Move should work. The choice of SSID is immaterial, but obviously it must be configured into the Sonos system for the Move to connect to it. 

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